this is d.w. news live from berlin at least three people are dead following a gas explosion in paris a spanish woman and two firefighters were killed in the blast and dozens more are critically injured some critically others are injured we'll bring you the latest also coming up it's official the u.s. is now suffering from its longest government shutdown in history hundreds of thousands of government employees are going without paychecks they will meet the workers in washington taking on this new jobs just to meet just to make ends meet.

and a saudi teenager who fled her home after she said she had her now islam rising canada to start a new life on the isle clooney was granted asylum there after her plight drew worldwide attention. i'm calm assman thanks for joining us. at least three people are confirmed dead after a powerful gas explosion and fire that ripped through a building in paris this morning spain's foreign ministry says a spanish tourist is among the dead two firefighters were also reportedly killed while evacuating people from the scene. suddenly transformed into a fiery inferno five by the struggle to bring a blaze inside the bakery and to control the explosion happened early on saturday

morning many will woken by the jolt from the blast those who are awake felt its terrifying force that. destroyed everything in the alleyway first i heard people shouting at one another they wanted to know if it was an attack and when we went outside we saw that all the windows were broken and there were people screaming. hundreds of emergency services worked in the debris trying to fight the blaze the disaster's toll became. victims receive first aid while being rushed to hospital ten people were critically injured dozens more were hurt and two firefighters are among the dead. people were hof naked from the blast we managed to carry them these people were unconscious and on the ground but their eyes were still open not closed. if any. despite the heavy police presence around the same authorities believe the blast is not terror

related assist the move. at this stage we can say that it is obviously caused accidentally by a gas leak do. you foresee we don't use these if we must be careful since the investigations are intended to determine the precise origin of this dramatic fire and this explosion does it expose you but what's clear is it's a tragedy one that will serve as a deadly reminder of the danger that emergency services confront every day paris was already on edge with more demonstrations by so-called yellow vests protesters in the french capitol police and demonstrators clashed around the octet rio where security has been stepped up in anticipation tens of thousands of demonstrators and riot police on the streets of major cities across the country it's the ninth straight saturday of demonstrations demanding changes to economic

policies in france which protesters say they for the rich. d.w. correspondent lisa lewis is following the protests i least this is now week nine of these yellow vests protests how serious were today's clashes. well there were some clashes and the government was actually expecting a whole new level of lyons they had deployed eighty thousand police officers and military personnel across the country five thousand of them here in paris many shops had barricaded up and indeed it came to clashes but if you can compare what happened today in paris but also in other cities across the country too what happened at the beginning of the movement about two months ago is actually not that serious indeed actually in on the first one to three saturdays the clashes started at about eight thirty nine o'clock ten o'clock in the morning and went on for the whole day today the first reports of clashes it got through to us at about two

three o'clock and they went on for a few hours yes but here in paris the situation has now gone back to normal and you know cars are circulating again at the after the on and the this one's easy have been cleared. the government there they have repeatedly offered concessions to the protesters is there a plan in place for ending these protests. absolutely the government is trying to calm down the protests this there is a so-called national debate that will start next tuesday that's you know nationwide talks in different cities that will go on for several weeks the government says it wants to hear the grievances of the people and take these grievances into account and indeed the government has pushed back the debate on a constitutional reform that was planned for agenda and it's been now been pushed by back to later on to take into account the outcome of these nationwide

talks however when you look at one recent poll quoting to that poll seventy percent of the french think that this debate will not lead to any useful majesty remains to be seen if the government government will really be able to calm down criticism and then maybe expecting a tenth straight weekend of those protests correspondent lisa louis and paris for us thank you very much. in the u.s. the partial government shutdown is now the longest in the country's history it's entering day twenty two with no end in sight to this beautiful overfunding for president donald trump's southern border ball as a result some eight hundred thousand workers have not been paid and as our washington correspondent reporting many government workers are now turning to alternative employment. prentiss do you've got bills and there's no sign of a paycheck coming anytime soon so maybe if you're

a government worker it's time to find a second job the fairfax county school district outside of washington d.c. has a shortage of substitute teachers and fairfax county now has an excess of furloughed government workers problem solution at least temporarily. twenty percent of the population in the greater d.c. area works for the federal government that's now one in five people with no paycheck and nothing to do for who knows how much longer but even with the dire predictions coming out of capitol hill this local community saw an opportunity to do something for their people. when the school district advertised the event it built up to capacity within twenty four hours the interest was so overwhelming that they added a second and then a third hiring day well it usually takes a few weeks to be approved as a new substitute teacher these people will all be processed and ready to work in just a few days the school board says it's really the least they can do for employees here really realize that we have a community in need right now we have many displaced federal workers and as part of

our caring culture this is just a small gesture to be able to be out and help and support our displaced federal workers and give them opportunity to substitute in our schools and earn a paycheck we've heard lots of teachers in the classroom are actually thrilled to have this influx of talent as you know we have people in the federal government who have all sorts of skills whether they're in mathematics statistics in medicine so just bringing that into the classroom will have. a big effect on our students. the shutdown could and any time many federal employees at the event said they're doing ok for now but in the meantime they want a contingency plan and the whole situation is disheartening nine hundred twenty thirteen shut down over the affordable care act. that was a little bit different the situation there was more talking between the president and congress and the senate so and this one because there's really no. no

discussion or very little discussion so. i'm frustrated. because i think. services to the citizens are being compromised there and even behind the scenes when our government is shut down people don't realize even when you. we have served in national parks we observe the museums we never know what unobservable things are not getting done i don't know right now it's looks like it's at a standstill so i don't know if i'm not get a great vibe but you know hoping and praying and before something will come through the region it's unclear as to where the federal government is stuck in the mud and its employees are moving on and this local government is stepping up to help. the f.b.i. reportedly opened an investigation into whether president trump was working on behalf of russia against u.s. interests during his presidential campaign that's according to the new york times

the newspaper claims that the probe was set up in early twenty seventeen following president trump's firing of then f.b.i. boss james comey according to anonymous sources agents were told to find out if trump was knowingly or unknowingly working for the russian government the white house denies the claim. in congo an opposition candidate is disputing the official results of the recent presidential elections and is calling for a recount supporters of runner up martin you live protested outside. congo's constitutional courts where they will who came to challenge the results had been expected to win but another opposition candidate just a k.t. as taken first place the government has asked the international community to back the outcome as it presently stands. a young woman who said she fled her home in saudi arabia after she said she would else islam as arrived in canada where she's been granted asylum ripoff mohamad canoing arrived at toronto airport canadian

foreign minister chrystia freeland was there to greet her couldn't said she feared her family would kill her if she returned home she first went to thailand where she escaped deportation after drawing attention to her plight using social media. max sander he's been following the story for us joins me now for more ok max walk us through i mean this was a long ought to see that that is now ending up in toronto how this exactly play out that's right so up until yesterday it wasn't certain that rafael convince attempt to flee from her home in saudi arabia would and will she spent the last couple of days in a hotel airport airport hotel room in bangkok avoiding to partition from the by the title forty's and also attempts of her family trying to get her home now her plan was to go to australia in the first place and claim claim asylum there it failed after she was stopped by the at the airport and and her passport was seized but she managed to keep her phone which is essential in this she took to twitter to raise

awareness for a case which in the end caused the united nations to step in so why did this case in particular i mean she she was on twitter but why did her case gain so much attention so quickly well there are many cases like this where women try to escape from abuse and their families and most of these cases go unreported but she used twitter in from the beginning of her journey to draw attention where she actually successfully tweeted messages including pictures and selfie videos from the year. report with the help of friends online and her appeals quickly turn into a large social media campaign for asylum and women's rights in saudi arabia and after just a few days her account has close to one hundred fifty thousand followers and putting diplomats politicians and human rights activists would all join in and spreading the word. when she laughs original plan was to go to australia seek asylum there how to change up in canada what exactly changed well her life was it

risk in thailand she was facing death she had death threats she was facing a possible deportation and the united nations made sure that they would process the claim very quickly. and they wanted to get her out of there obviously but australia simply took too long to assist the situation themselves this is when canada actually stepped up and this is. the kind of indian prime minister justin trudeau last night. looks like he may have lost justin trudeau as the. beach there. but i guess we have to leave it there mike center thank you very much for the report thank you. all right it's like move on now to. another story in europe where more than twenty people have now died in the heaviest snowfall in two decades days of flurries have brought much of alpine germany and austria where fresh

avalanche warnings were issued overnight they're now covered in snow towns have been cut off and there's no sign the situation will improve anytime soon forecasters are warning there could be up to another metre on the way. to sports now formula one racing electric cars and formulate he is in full swing and your own . of them are indra racing was the biggest winner at the merc he pre the belgian took the lead after two b.m.w. cars got tangled up with only ten minutes to go that gave his opening and he went on to cross the line for the win also puts him in the overall lead after the second race of the season. and a reminder now the top stories that we're following for you right now at least three people have been killed in a gas explosion in central paris authorities say a spanish woman died along with two firefighters who were evacuating people from

the scene dozens more injured some critically. and it's the heaviest snowfall in years and it's brought many parts of europe to a standstill more snow is on the way and more than twenty people already died in weather related incidents. in washington more at the top of the hour website for more dot com that's what. we make up oh but we want to tell is on our feet hundred twenty five we are the civil service and . then want to shoot three continents future going to be part of it and join us youngsters as they share their stories their dreams their job with the seventy seven percent platform for africa.